Fears In The Water
by Zoicytes-Shadow
Summary: A strange alliance must be made if the farm is to be saved. But who knows the heart of an undine?
1. Chapter 1

_Fears In The Water_

There would be a time, when dogs could not save this doomed place.

Not dogs, nor dog fox hybrids. Not money loving farmers, nor kind farmer's wives.

Not ducks, regular or from space. Not chickens either.

And especially not a computer.

The Computer thought softly to himself, up in the attic.

This place of twisted chaos and death was likely created by a demon. But it's downfall would be from man. The Computer's screen faced outside the window, seeking something, anything.

Perhaps, he reflected later, it was his morbid hope that brought the landseekers crashing down on them. Who knew anything, anymore?

He watched the men get out of the limosine, watched the royally dressed one walk up and knock on the door of the farmhouse, and wondered if it would just be easier to turn himself off.

After all the time and energy spent in fierce determination to save the farm, nothing but greed would be it's ruin. And soon. It seemed so pointless, really.

-

Courage had been staring up at the staircase, wondering why he had a sense of unease and loneliness when the knock at the door sounded. The next few moments were a painful, uncontrollable blur. Professional talks were made, money was handed over, and Muriel was sitting in her favorite rocking chair, looking quite upset. Courage, resuming his role as loyal dog, jumped up on her lap. She patted his head while glaring at Eustace.

The farmer was gleefully counting money.

"Eustace, this house has been in my family for generations! I aint goin ta get rid of it just because you're as stubborn as a mule when it comes down to money!"  
He glanced up at the admonishment. "Eh? We're lucky we got this! You know there aint nothing we can do about it."

To Courage's horror, he felt Muriel's resolve dying. "Oh, if only there was something."

He was confused and worried. And there was only one place to go to when things like this happened.

-

"It's hopeless." The Computer stated.

Courage whined. "Can't you be a bit more optimistic?"

"Don't you understand who those men were, you twit?"  
"No, I don't understand anything, except that we have to move. I don't like that."

The Computer sighed. "Alright, those men were from the government. There's a law that states they can give a proper amount of money and take any land for public purposes."  
"What if he didn't accept the money?"  
"What if hell froze over?"  
Courage was silent, mortified.

"Anyway, if he had miraculously refused, they still would have bought the farm, he just wouldn't have gotten any profit at all."  
"That's terrible!"  
"But true." The Computer's screen flickered. "It says that they plan to use the area for a shopping mall. That's public interest."  
"In the middle of nowhere?"  
"They have that covered too. Apparently it's to 'unite all the outlying people in convenience and friendship'."

"How can something that sounds so good be so bad?"  
"I'm afraid there's simply nothing you can do this time, Courage."

Courage's eyes widened. "Did you just say-"  
"Ssh."

Courage frowned. "You're trying to change the subject."  
"I meant it when I said shush! Look, down there."

A green arrow appeared on the screen, pointing out the window.

Now more confused than ever, Courage obeyed, and looked outside.

The government men were wandering around, measuring distances and creating markers. One of them was holding a hose, watering the ground.

"So?" Courage turned back, accusing. "What's wrong with watering the dirt?"

The Computer didn't respond for a moment. Finally, almost too quietly, he replied. "The undine..."

Courage looked outside again, and screamed. The puddle was turning black.

And from it, a familiar purple haired figure was rising.

The Queen of the Black Puddle hummed to herself, and immediately turned her eyes to the attic window. She smiled.

Courage screamed louder, and jumped onto The Computer's monitor.

The water demoness seemed amused by his display. She turned back to stare at the man who was watering the ground, his back to her.

She opened her mouth, and incredibly, Courage and The Computer heard her sing, all the way up in the attic. The man's comrades in back stayed with their previous duties, unhearing.

_If you are lost in your way, deep in an awesome story, don't be in doubt and stray, cling to your lonesome body_

The man turned, amazed, and immediately attracted. The Computer would have shuddered, if he could have. How could this man believe her to be normal? Her hair the purple of corpse bruises, her pale drowned skin, fathomless black pools of eyes. No normal woman moved so smoothly, as if constantly swimming in the air. And that mouth, those fangs...

It was clear her show was as much for them as it was for her intended victim.

The man still stood dumbly, enamored. All had been lost for him since the very first sight he had of her.

_Now, you're too close to the pain, let all the rain go further, come back and kiss me again, _

The man moved forward, groping in the air as if he were blind.

The Computer missed some of her song, hoping, hoping so deeply she would drag him under to finish him, away from Courage's eyes and his screen.

_In the chorus of pain, taking you back to proper ways, it's so easy to find, if you could remind me..._

She began subtly changing, her grin grew more predatory, her fingers tightened into grasping claws. The foolish man never noticed. Not even when she grabbed him, turned him around, appraising her meal, did he flinch.

_Now, you are lost in your way, deep in an awesome story, so, I will find you again, kiss your lonesome body..._

The Computer couldn't turn away. Neither, it seemed, could Courage. They were forced to watch as she bit between the man's neck and shoulder, tearing sinew and skin. The skin she simply pushed out of her mouth with her teeth, and returned for a second bite, going in even deeper.

The man's eyes rolled into his head, his arm twitched as she chewed a muscle, and blood trickled to the ground. Grasping him lightly, confident her prey would not ever be getting away, she led him back to the puddle, pausing to smile at the attic window, where she knew her audience was paralyzed with fear. She licked some blood off her lips, and sunk into the portal.

_If you are lost in your way, deep in an awesome story, don't be in doubt and stray, cling to your lonesome body..._

The puddle sank into the ground. And with it, slowly, as if unwilling to further taint the ground, the blood disappeared.

The Computer and Courage stared for a long time, long after the men had come looking for their missing companion, long after they had decided he had left and gone themselves.

The ground was bare, but now that it had been seen, there was no hiding the corruption underneath any longer. The undine's music whispered around their heads still, bodiless and malignant, sounding an unneeded warning for the horrors to follow.

-


	2. Chapter 2

Z/N: Check out the story I'm co-authoring with BladeBrandierCTCD, What the Soul Holds.

-

The time passed silently into afternoon, maroon sky tinting the attic floor.

Neither Courage nor The Computer said anything. Courage sat on the floor, unmoving.

When Muriel called for him to come get supper, he jumped, and looked around, frightened.

"It's just Muriel." The Computer spoke for the first time in an hour, with as soothing a tone as he could manage.

Courage fidgted nervously, spared the Computer a terrified glance, and fled downstairs to his mistress' call.

Water. So pliable, yet so strong. So bending, yet resisting. It could be cut through, and keep coming. The Queen of the Black Puddle slid easily through her element, enjoying the cool feel of it. A smile spread across her lips at the memory of her earlier hunt. Those two...a bit like water. Pliable, yet strong. But were they as deep as the liquid surrounding her? Such fun.

Such fun. But, a frown eased onto her features, that man-he was with others. Doing something. Checking the density of the ground? For what? For...what..?

No matter. The dog always took care of those things. She kept the underwater danger to a minimum, and the dog took care of threats from terra. It was such a lovely system, and he didn't even know he was a part of it. So fun. Beneath her, fresh bones stirred from the current.

Courage was torn between staying with Muriel, and returning to the Computer. He sat on her lap until she fell asleep in front of the tv, and then dashed up to the attic.

"I've been waiting." The Computer said wearily. "I've had an idea. It's not a very good one yet, but it's the only thing we have. It will be hard,"

Courage nodded.

"and dangerous,"

Another nod.

"and risky,"

Nod, again.

"and involve getting the undine's help."

Nod-, no, frantic shaking of the head.

"It can't be helped! If they think this place is haunted-"  
"It is!" Courage whined.

"But if they know that, they'll go build their mall elsewhere."  
"They will? But how are we going to get the Black Puddle Queen to help us?"

"Now, that's the hard part.."

Scraping, from the above world. She opened eyes, red at first, then they deepened to black.

The dog was doing something. She had been resting. But, anything the dog was doing promised to be entertaining. The undine launched herself into the water, heading for the surface.

It had taken Courage a long time to get the Computer down from the attic without Muriel or Eustace noticing. He drug the monitor the last few feet of the extension cord's length, and bent down, panting.

The Computer gave him a minute before demanding to have the robotic arms attached. Courage whined, and hurried to comply.

A metre away, the Queen of the Black Puddle was watching them, smiling. This was odd. What in the name of Calypso were they doing now?

Courage jammed the last arm in with a grunt, and stood back to admire his work.

The Computer swiveled his monitor on the stand, and surveyed the arms, clenching the claws together. "Yes, yes, this will do very well. Good. Now, the next part of the plan."  
Courage walked closer to hear.  
"When she comes up here-" The Computer indicated the spot in front of him, "I'll grab her and electrocute her."  
Courage looked worried.

"Just enough to stun her. Then I'll keep her captive, while you tell her what we want."

Courage nodded, full of determination.

"Well, get her up here."  
Courage looked worried again. "Um, how?"  
The Computer's monitor blinked. "How? ...How...Well, just do something. Insult her."  
Courage nodded hesitantly, then ran a few feet away to the water pump, and dug up a dress and wig. He put them on, and strutted around, making whining noises.

The Computer looked ready to strangle him.

"That is so _stupid.._"

"Is that supposed to be me?"

"Apparently, but the twit obviously doesn't know-"

The Computer froze, and slowly swiveled around.

Courage stopped mincing, and let oout a scream, sending the disguise flying.

The Queen of the Black Puddle studied them. "That was a horrible impersonation."

The Computer was the first to recover. He swept the robotic arms around, launching them at the undine. She looked surprised, and Courage let out a cheer of joy-

Inside the house, Eustace tripped over the long black extension cord. He landed on his face.

"OOF! Who put this here?"

Grumbling, he stood up, and yanked the cord out of the socket. "Stupid cord."

The Computer gasped, and fell lifeless.

Courage looked at him, then slowly, turned his attention to the undine.

She smiled.

He screamed.

-


	3. Chapter 3

Courage was sure his heart had stopped.

The Queen of the Black Puddle was simply staring, waiting for his next move.

He whimpered.

"_Well?_" She prompted.

Still no positive reaction from the dog.

_"What do you want?"_

His eyes defied logic by getting even bigger.

She decided to try going slowly. Her conversation skills were lacking, but...

_"The weather is good. Yes. Those men earlier. Not good?"_

Something had sparked a reaction.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes..."

_The men not good."_

Courage nodded frantically.

_"Why?"_

"Th-they w-want to demolish the f-farm.."  
_"WHAT?"  
_Courage shrieked and fell to the ground.

The Queen of the Black Puddle ignored him, her rage heating up.

_"How DARE they? This is sacred ground, meant for only the most of the other world, no mortal dare defile it in such a way..No bargains made for eternity, obviously. They would even destroy their own dead in horrible ways, creatures of doubt and pale blindness.."_

She noticed him cowering, and stopped pacing.

_"I am not angry at you small dog. I am angry at the humans who dare to defile my home."_

Courage felt relief, tempered with a bit of anxiety. So, she hated them. He could get her help then, if he could do it without angering her again...

He stood up in a submissive way, eyes on the ground.

"We...we need your help..."

She blinked. _"Help with what?"_

"We can't make them go away. We need you to drive them off."

_"You want me to feast?"  
_"No, no, not really..just...just make them go away... please.."

_"You want them to fear me and leave? This I can do. Men fear both me and their own kind if telling tales of me. This I can do well. But will I?"_

"Will you?"  
She studied him for a moment. Courage was vaguely aware of the small puddle building underneath her from the water cascading down her hair.

_"You give me something, I give you something."  
_Courage hesitated, then nodded. "I-I'll try."  
_"I want a male."_

"A..a human?"

_"Yes."_

"What do you want him for?"  
She smiled.

Courage shuddered, and closed his eyes tight. "...Alright. I'll try to get you one."  
_"I go back to the undertow now. If you need me, call my name."_

"I...don't know it."  
She smiled again, secure in her own power.

_"Aquarella."_

Courage nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

And when he looked up, she was gone.

He bundled up the robot arms and took them up to the attic, then returned and took the Computer back up as well. Once the machine was hooked up, he immediately bypassed the shutdown error screens and gasped. "What happened?"  
Courage sighed, guilty already, and told him.

The Computer was silent for a while. "Well. It seems like we have a deal. For now."  
Courage nodded. "Time for more planning."  
"Such as where we're going to find a human male?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, that one I don't really know offhand. I could search the internet personals.."  
Courage shook his head. "Noo...that's just mean!"  
"Then I'll have to think on it quite a bit."  
When Courage went downstairs to nap, the Computer was still whirring away, regarding all of his options. It would be a long day.


End file.
